Symbol for knowledge
In the poem "The Jew’’, the narrator mentions a lamp given to the people when Moses wrote down the Ten Commandments. Because of this lamp, the people no longer dwelled in darkness but became capable to know right from wrong. The lamp becomes here a symbol for the knowledge religious knowledge gives a person and for the enlightenment many religious groups felt when they came into contact with sacred writings.
Summer and winter
In the poem "On Receiving News of the War’’, the narrator described two seasons, winter and summer, both having distinctive feelings associated with them. Summer is associated with happiness and wonder while winter is associated with death, coldness and decay. The two seasons are used in this context as symbols, winter symbolizing the pain brought on by the war and summer symbolizing the relative happy life many had before the war started.
Symbol for sin
In the poem "A Worm Fed on the Heart of Corinth’’, the narrator describes a worm which can have extreme power over the life of many people. This worm is described as being the source of everything that is evil and as being the element responsible for all the pain the world. As the poem progresses, it becomes clear that the worm is actually used here as a symbol for the sin ever person has to fight against.
Ripe fields
In the last stanza of the poem "August 1914’’, the narrator describes the status of the ripe fields around his hometown, fields which now became burnt and badly damaged. The fields are used in this context as a symbol to make reference to the former happy life many had until them while the destroyed fields are used to represent the way in which war destroyed the livelihood and the way of life of countless of people.
Symbol for destruction
In most of the poems in which the main theme is war, such as "August 1914’’, "God’’ and "Through these Pale Cold Days’’, the narrator mentions fire as a central element to be analyzed. The fire thus becomes used in these cases both as a common motif and as a symbol. The fire is used in these cases to symbolize destruction, which in the poems is caused by the First World War.
